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A review by kaikai1618
Chase the Dark by Annette Marie
3.0
Good enough for doing work. Entertaining and easy to follow as long as you aren't thinking too hard. Not good enough to distract you.
However I had some major issues with this book.
This book has the typical "I'm not like other girls", "chosen one", and "love triangle between two hunky dudes who like her for some reason" vibes going on. And that's fine. We've seen it before and I'm reading this as a look into the past of when I loved books like that.
Still, the more you look into the weird age gaps and topics that stray into new adult and adult age range, the weirder the romantic interactions between the characters become. I really think the main character should have either been aged up, or her love interests aged down. Though, considering how juvenile Piper could be, I think the latter. If it's a fantasy book, I'm confused as to why the author would make a sheltered 17 year old girl's romantic interests, one very touchy (but dismissed) 27 year old and one broody 22-23 year old. That's really really weird. It's not mentioned in the book, but it's something I found in an interview. Without knowing this, the relationships might seem fine to the average reader. It's just that the more I read, and the more Piper and her sex life and virginity kept being brought up, the more uncomfortable I became.
I can't help but feel like our main character has been thrown into a story pretending she's this badass fighting girlboss when convenient, while mostly having her trust and rely on men around her that she doesn't have much reason to trust. And I can indulge in some suspension of disbelief where it's fun to imagine being a person between two super hot guys and it's not that deep. However, I also think Piper is given a backstory that continues to emphasize her sexuality as a teen girl?? And ultimately, this seems to be used to rile up the men loyal to her and give her trauma just to kinda throw it in there as "depth". This way of writing tactlessly about virginity and sexuality is something that I hope the author's stories have outgrown as we've become more aware of critiquing books aimed for young adult audiences unnecessarily sexualizing their characters.
I'm a fan of paranormal and fantasy romance. I enjoy it a lot, but I also think we can do better. I like a lot of the story and I find the world building straightforward. Clearly the author can write a palatable fantasy book, so let's do away with some of these unnecessary parts please.
Audiobook note: the narrator has a nasaley voice that becomes even more so in random parts. It didn't help the book at all. I got used to it, but I don't recommend the Jorjeana Marie narrated version.
However I had some major issues with this book.
This book has the typical "I'm not like other girls", "chosen one", and "love triangle between two hunky dudes who like her for some reason" vibes going on. And that's fine. We've seen it before and I'm reading this as a look into the past of when I loved books like that.
Still, the more you look into the weird age gaps and topics that stray into new adult and adult age range, the weirder the romantic interactions between the characters become. I really think the main character should have either been aged up, or her love interests aged down. Though, considering how juvenile Piper could be, I think the latter. If it's a fantasy book, I'm confused as to why the author would make a sheltered 17 year old girl's romantic interests, one very touchy (but dismissed) 27 year old and one broody 22-23 year old. That's really really weird. It's not mentioned in the book, but it's something I found in an interview. Without knowing this, the relationships might seem fine to the average reader. It's just that the more I read, and the more Piper and her sex life and virginity kept being brought up, the more uncomfortable I became.
I can't help but feel like our main character has been thrown into a story pretending she's this badass fighting girlboss when convenient, while mostly having her trust and rely on men around her that she doesn't have much reason to trust. And I can indulge in some suspension of disbelief where it's fun to imagine being a person between two super hot guys and it's not that deep. However, I also think Piper is given a backstory that continues to emphasize her sexuality as a teen girl?? And ultimately, this seems to be used to rile up the men loyal to her and give her trauma just to kinda throw it in there as "depth". This way of writing tactlessly about virginity and sexuality is something that I hope the author's stories have outgrown as we've become more aware of critiquing books aimed for young adult audiences unnecessarily sexualizing their characters.
I'm a fan of paranormal and fantasy romance. I enjoy it a lot, but I also think we can do better. I like a lot of the story and I find the world building straightforward. Clearly the author can write a palatable fantasy book, so let's do away with some of these unnecessary parts please.
Audiobook note: the narrator has a nasaley voice that becomes even more so in random parts. It didn't help the book at all. I got used to it, but I don't recommend the Jorjeana Marie narrated version.